The view from Safdarjung's Tomb, 1906.

 

A wonderful little photograph from the top of Safdarjung’s tomb in Delhi, circa 1906. I have previously posted about the fact that Safdarjung’s tomb operated as a rest station for visitors, Indians and Europeans alike  on the way to the Qutub. It seems that it also served as an early site for photographic experimentation. And while we often see photographs taken from the opposite angle—centered on the 18th-century tomb itself—this rare perspective invites us to look outward and appreciate the broader, early 20^th century landscape. To the left lies the area now known as Lodi Gardens, where you can spot the domed silhouette of Muhammad Shah Sayyid’s tomb and other archaeological remnants if you look closely. On the right stretches the expanse of Bagh-i-Jud, now Jor Bagh (the tree-lined Lodi Road, which now bisects this landscape, was only carved through the area in the 1930s). In all, a fascinating glimpse of the necropolis of Delhi before the planner’s city came into being.